A nearly 200mph train service that takes us straight from London to some of the finest cities across mainland Europe is something of a blessing. Only this summer, the Eurostar route from London to Amsterdam was due to be suspended, with Centraal Station in the Dutch city undergoing renovation work from June 2024.
Thankfully, a solution has been found to allow trains from London St Pancras to pass into Amsterdam when the works commence in June 2024. It was previously feared that the service would be shut off completely for five to six months, but now the Eurostar trans will continue to run from the station.
It will still mean some changes, however, with the frequency of the trains dropping from four trains to three per day, and passengers travelling to London no longer able to take a direct service; with a change required at Brussels station. Direct routes from London to Amsterdam will still be available in this period.
This is a useful solution for Eurostar, since it comes off the back of a 22 per cent increase to their services, with 18.6 million passengers jumping on the trains – marking a return to the pre-Covid numbers. The London to Amsterdam service also saw the highest growth at 38 per cent, compared to 33 per cent for London to Brussels and 25 per cent for London to Paris (which is still the highest-selling route).
A new timetable will begin on June 15, 2024, which integrates the reduced frequency of trains. Passengers travelling back from London to Amsterdam will have either 48 minutes or one hour and 48 minutes added to the journey, depending on the time it takes to complete passport checks at the stop-off in Brussels.
Eurostar has been told that the work, which includes a new terminal just for Eurostar trains at Amsterdam Centraal, will be complete by Christmas.
